Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi will challenge a Pretoria high court ruling that saw him lose an application relating to the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEPs).

The high court ruled on Monday that the department’s application for leave to appeal had no reasonable prospects of success.

This after the department’s director-general Tommy Makhode deposed to an affidavit five weeks ago challenging a judgement that had favoured the Helen Suzman Foundation and Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in SA.

According to SowetanLIVE’s sister publication TimesLIVE, Motsoaledi was appealing against the judgment that required him to go back to the drawing board on the ZEPs.

In a media statement issued on Tuesday evening, Motsoaledi’s spokesperson Thabo Mokgola said the minister was appealing the matter at the Supreme Court of Appeal.

“The minister has also taken legal advice on the judgment. The minister has decided to exhaust the legal remedies available to him. To this end, he has already instructed his legal representatives to lodge an application for leave to appeal to the SCA without any delay,” said Mokgola.

“Motsoaledi believes that the matter is of such great public importance to deserve the attention of a higher court.”

He said the minister was encouraged by the increased number of waiver and visa applications lodged by the affected Zimbabwean nationals. The minister is considering and approving an average of 2,000 waiver applications every week.

Mokgola said Motsoaledi would like to assure the public that the department will continue to enforce the immigration laws without fear or favour. 

He said that is why Motsoaledi hosted a two-day immigration workshop on October 16 and 17 at Birchwood Hotel, in Gauteng, attended by representatives from the National House of Traditional Leaders, Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA and National Khoi and San Council, among other stakeholders.

According to TimesLIVE, Monday`s ruling found that crucial to determining whether there were prospects for a successful appeal was the quality of the evidence before the court  on what the minister had taken into account when he made the decision to terminate the ZEP regime, which allows about 178,000 permit holders to lawfully be in SA.

However, Motsolaedi had not submitted an affidavit to court during the hearing, and instead, it had been the director-general of home affairs who had deposed to affidavits.

“What renders the minister’s application destined for failure is the minister’s failure to depose to an answering affidavit in the review proceedings. Only the minister, as the decisionmaker, could give evidence as to what passed through his mind,” said the court. 

The court also rejected the argument by the minister’s legal team that his decision was not subject to review under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (Paja) since it was not administrative in nature but was an executive decision and therefore only reviewable by a court if it was irrational in law.

Ghana becomes the next country to open up visa-free entry for South African passport holders for periods of 90 days.

Ghana opens up to South African nationals. Image: Unsplash

Ghana is another country that will open its doors to South African passport holders by allowing visa-free entry.

South African passport holders have seen increasing mobility in recent months. 

This is due to a rising number of countries relaxing entry restrictions, or allowing easier entry for SA nationals, by virtue of e-visas.

VISA WAIVER FOR SOUTH AFRICA

BBC reports that the governments of Ghana and South Africa have signed a visa waiver agreement. 

A reciprocal visa waiver will be implemented for passport holders from both countries.

This will therefore allow visa-free entry for citizens of both countries.

From next month, Ghana will allow South African nationals to enter and stay for periods of up to 3 months.     

90 DAY RULE

The agreement will take effect on 1 November. This will allow visa-free entry for holders of ordinary passports from both countries for a cumulative period of up to 90 days per year (without the right to seek employment).

Tourism Update reports that South Africa has already made it easier for passport holders from Ghana to enter SA when it added Ghana to the eVisa platform.

This enabled Ghanaians to apply for entry visas to South Africa without needing to visit the SA High Commission.

The South African High Commission in Ghana states that once the 90 days is exhausted within 12 months, ordinary passport holders must apply for a visa to enter South Africa.

TOURISM SOURCE COUNTRY 

The move is expected to draw interest from Ghanaian nationals who are an increasingly important tourism source country for South Africa.

Entry visas for South Africa cost 280 USD (ZAR 5320) for Ghana passport holders.

SA has seen rising numbers of visitors from African countries post the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, South African Airways also offers several flights a week from Accra in Ghana to Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport.

• Department of Employment and Labour director-general Thobile Lamati has resigned.

• His resignation follows a R5 billion scandal at the UIF which was stopped in its tracks.

• It also follows calls from business and labour for intervention in the UIF`s `chaotic` administration.

The director-general of the Department of Labour and Employment, Thobile Lamati, has resigned. 

His resignation follows reports of backing a controversial project to channel billions from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) into a private investment company, as part of a job creation scheme. 

Lamati conveyed the news to his top management in a WhatsApp message earlier today. 

Lamati`s fate has been in the balance for the past month, as President Cyril Ramaphosa considered a report on the matter submitted by Minister of Labour and Employment Thulas Nxesi. Only Ramaphosa has the power to hire and fire directors-general. 

While the contents of Nxesi`s report are unknown, it was an open secret in the department that he wanted Lamati out. The scheme in question involved an R5 billion transaction part loan and part grant funding - with Thuja Capital, owned by businessman Mthunzi Mdwaba. 

Under the scheme, Mdwaba would buy stakes in various companies and then use his power as a shareholder to promote job creation. Thuja Capital was hastily registered last December, shortly before Lamati and UIF commissioner Teboho Maruping pushed for the deal to happen. But the transaction was scuppered by a report in the Sunday Times that exposed the plan. 

Maruping`s future is still to be determined. A departmental official said that they now expected `the dominoes to start falling`.

Earlier this month, Business Unity SA (BUSA) and Cosatu called for a crackdown on the UIF, which they described as chaotic and dysfunctional. They appealed to Nxesi and Ramaphosa to put the fund under administration. The UIF is an employer- and employee-funded social security fund collected through a payroll tax on all formal sector workers. 

But workers, who can draw on the funds when they become unemployed or take maternity leave, are made to wait months for benefits, if these are paid at all, due to UIF repeated systems failure. 

The UIF has generated large surpluses over time. At present it sits on investments of about R130 billion, managed by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).

1. The Minister of Home Affairs (“Minister”) has considered the Full Court judgment (Gauteng Division, Pretoria) on the application for leave to appeal in the Helen Suzman Foundation (“HSF”) v Minister of Home Affairs (“Minister”) and Another (ZEP matter) dismissing the application for leave to appeal lodged by him.

2. The Minister has also taken legal advice on the judgment. The Minister has decided to exhaust the legal remedies available to him. To this end, he has already instructed his legal representatives to lodge an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) without any delay.

3. The Minister believes that the matter is of such great public importance to deserve the attention of a higher court.

4. The Minister is encouraged by the increased number of waiver and visa applications lodged by the affected Zimbabwean nationals. The Minister is considering and approving an average of 2 000 waiver applications every week.

5. The Minister would like to assure the public that the Department of Home Affairs (“DHA”) will continue to enforce the immigration laws without fear or favour. Hence the very successful two-day immigration workshop held on 16 and 17 October 2023 at Birchwood Hotel, in Gauteng, attended by representatives of the National House of Traditional Leaders and Khoi and San Leaders and all provincial houses of traditional leaders, Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (“CONTRALESA”), National Khoi and San Council, Royal Leaders of South Africa (“ROLESA”), South African Local Government Association (“SALGA”), Mayors or Speakers of Metros and Districts, Ministers of Human Settlements, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Small Business Development, Deputy Ministers of Home Affairs and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Leaders and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. A full statement on the workshop will be released in due course.

In an exclusive interview, Anitta Hipper, Spokesperson for the European Commission (home affairs) elaborates upon the reasons for delays, what the European Commission is doing to resolve the issue and the much-awaited digitisation of the Schengen visa

Since the resumption of international travel post Covid-19, long wait to get a visa appointment & delay in processing of Schengen visas has irked travellers worldwide 

Since the resumption of international travel post Covid-19, long wait to get a visa appointment & delay in processing of Schengen visas has irked travellers worldwide. In an exclusive interview, Anitta Hipper, Spokesperson for the European Commission (home affairs) elaborates upon the reasons for delays, what the European Commission is doing to resolve the issue and the much-awaited digitisation of the Schengen visa which will be issued in digital format, as a 2D barcode, cryptographically signed.

Worldwide, travellers are unhappy with the delay in Schengen visa processing times that is impacting their personal and professional travel plans. What’s the big reason for this delay?  In India, people are complaining that scheduling an appointment ‘takes forever’. How can this be expedited? 

This is not a specific situation to India. The European Commission has received numerous reports from visa applicants who, in various geographical locations, have difficulties obtaining an appointment for the submission of a visa application at Member States` consular offices.

Travel restrictions related to COVID-19 have forced some Member States to reduce the number of staff engaged in consular offices or have had to cancel their contractual arrangements with external service providers. In a context of resumption of international travel and increase in visa applications, the pressure in some places creates difficulties for service providers and consulates in processing an increasing number of visa applications in a timely manner.

In addition, intermediaries use sophisticated IT tools to book appointments on behalf of visa applicants as soon as they are released, making extremely difficult for applicants not using their services to book an appointment on their own.

The Commission regularly calls on the Member States` visa authorities to improve their operational capacities and address this issue by releasing more appointments. As for the decisions on visa application, the decisions in this matter are the exclusive competence of Member States.

According to a few news reports, in 2022, India was the second country with the highest rejection rates; nearly 18% of total Schengen visa applications submitted by Indians were rejected. What is the big reason? Financial stability? Background check?  

This is not factually correct. The refusal rate for visas applied in Member States consulates corresponds to the refusal rate global average. There are almost 60 visa-required third countries who have worse refusal rate (almost up to 50% for few of them).

The main reason for rejection is the documentation justifying the purpose and conditions of the intended stay. In particular, the use of forged or fake documents has been identified by Member States as an issue (this is not specific to India).

Are there accelerated visa processing options?

There is no accelerated/emergency procedure which can be invoked for tourism-related travels. Member States are making efforts to increase their processing capacity to deal with the increase in visa applications.

In June this year, the Parliament and the Council of the European Union agreed on rules to digitalise the procedure for Schengen visas. What`s the current status of the proposal?  When will digitisation be fully adopted? 

Once the European Parliament and the Council adopt the initiative, work will start on the implementation of the regulation. After the start of operation of the common application platform and the introduction of the digital visa (not before 2028), Member States will have then seven years to switch to the common online visa platform.

Will the digitised visa be a 2D barcode cryptographically signed?  Will it be a single-window platform for all Member states? 

The Regulation proposed by the Commission aims to modernise the visa procedure by introducing two key changes: digitalisation of the visa sticker and digitalization of the visa application.

This will be achieved through the establishment of an European Union (EU) online Visa application platform, where applicants can apply online for a Schengen visa, regardless of the country they wish to visit and make the visa fee payment. The platform will offer a secure account for applicants to apply and receive the decision on their application. It will also provide up-to-date information on visa requirements, procedures, and a chatbot for user queries.

Additionally, under the proposed rules, visas will be issued in digital format, as a 2D barcode, cryptographically signed. This will reduce security risks related to counterfeit and stolen visa.